I didn't see any threads in here specifically pertaining to discussion on when, how, and if Marvel can get the rights to Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider back from Fox and Sony. So, I figured we should probably have one as the topic does seem to pop up relatively often in other threads.

Don't worry the rights are coming how. After Ghost Rider drops there's no way SONY will make a 3rd film. There's been no movement from FOX on Daredevil & Fantastic Four, so there's a good chance Disney gets them back.

I'm ok with Fox keeping X-Men right now and Sony keeping Spidey because if we had those franchises alot of the characters Marvel are pushing wouldn't get a shot.

Design work has been done on the digital Thing, and I am sure WETA has done a test, so once APES is done I suspect Fox will be making a decision on the FF. They still have a good 5 or 6 months to pull the trigger to make the 2012 dead line, so I would not write off an FF sequel or what ever just yet.

So if Elektra was made in 2005, and Marvel still hasn't gotten the Daredevil rights back, then the contract agreement with Fox has to stipulate a movie must be made at least every 6 years (possibly more), since the right haven't reverted yet and it's 2011.

We could also assume that the Fantastic Four contract would probably be the same, then. So, since FF:RotSS was released in 2007, that would give Fox until 2013 (or later) to make another picture, right?

In July 2010, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, company head Kevin Feige revealed that another Punisher reboot is in the works. Feige said that the rights to the character have reverted back to Marvel Studios, and they want to take their own shot at it. He also said that he's aiming for a "Frank Castle" movie rather than a Punisher film.

Marvel has already gotten MANY of their character's film rights back. You, sir, are nothing more than a troll.

Marvel has already gotten MANY of their character's film rights back. You, sir, are nothing more than a troll.

i think what's Nuffsaid's trying to say is that Marvel won't get these particular rights back. Fox theatened to produce ashcan copies of the franchises just to keep the rights for a longer time, a thing they already did with Fantastic Four back in '94. Fox are probably getting more aggresive now that Marvel Studios gets more and more acclaim and gets more rights to it's original characters like in the cases you referenced, but Fox has a hold on some household names (remember Iron Man was lesser known out of fanbase and people who were new o comic-book movies at the time, not saying he was a complete nobody, of course not, but he had less popularity at the time) and Hulk was kind of a dissapointment for Universal, so it was kind of easy to get the rights back.

I'd heard that the current Marvel contracts contained clauses to prevent anyone from retaining the rights to characters if they attempt to produce poor-quality, low-budget garbage just for the sake of retaining the rights. I think only theatrically released films count towards renewing the contracts, also. They can't just keep churning out direct-to-video stuff.

As for the 94 FF film, I don't think Fox was necessarily involved in that. Could be wrong, though. It was, however, definitely produced to retain the rights for the company making it at the time.

Yeah, they should get them back. I'm tired of seeing more than two superhero films each year.

If you're trying to be sarcastic, the fact is that Feige said Marvel was eventually going to be releasing 4 films a year. Couple that with anything coming out of DC and any independent comic-movies and I don't think you have to worry about a shortage of superhero movies.

That way, instead of having characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and even lesser known characters in movies, we'll have to push them aside for Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in most years! This is the best thing ever!

__________________FASTER THAN A SPEEDING HAMSTER...-----MORE POWERFUL THAN A BOX OF TISSUES...----------ABLE TO LEAP OFF OF TALL BUILDINGS AND HIT THE GROUND...

That way, instead of having characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and even lesser known characters in movies, we'll have to push them aside for Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in most years! This is the best thing ever!

What a hard life you live, being forced to watch every single one of these movies.

I'd heard that the current Marvel contracts contained clauses to prevent anyone from retaining the rights to characters if they attempt to produce poor-quality, low-budget garbage just for the sake of retaining the rights. I think only theatrically released films count towards renewing the contracts, also. They can't just keep churning out direct-to-video stuff.

I would like to see Marvel get the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider etc rights back.

However, I like the X-Men franchise and think the upcoming Spiderman reboot looks good...
Can't Marvel just pay a certain amount to tie in those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and have them appear in some of those films? So if any characters tied to those licenses are needed, they could appear?

I would like to see Marvel get the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider etc rights back.

However, I like the X-Men franchise and think the upcoming Spiderman reboot looks good...
Can't Marvel just pay a certain amount to tie in those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and have them appear in some of those films? So if any characters tied to those licenses are needed, they could appear?

I'd expect that the contracts, as written, give exclusive rights to the studio currently using the character. Marvel could always, for example, offer $10 million to Sony for the rights to have Spidey make an appearance in an Avenger's film, but I highly doubt that would happen.

From Sony's point of view, they don't want to 'water down the character' and Spider-man appearing in other films would reduce the value of their stand-alone films. Marvel, on the other hand, probably doesn't want to promote a character that they only have limited rights to. Instead of using Spider-man, they could bring in a character like Nova and then spin him off into his own film if they so choose.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it's likely to happen.

I think Fox may hang onto X-Men and Sony certainly seems interested in Spider-man, but I have a feeling the other characters will trickle back to Marvel until those are the only ones Marvel doesn't control.